Glam metal (also known as hair metal and often used synonymously with pop metal) is a subgenre of heavy metal, which features pop-influenced hooks and guitar riffs, and borrows from the fashion of 1970s glam rock.

Glam metal lost mainstream interest in the early 1990s as the perceived excesses of glam metal created a backlash against the genre. A factor in the decline of glam metal was the rise of grunge in the early 1990s, which had a stripped-down aesthetic and a complete rejection of the glam metal visual style. Glam metal has enjoyed a revival since the late 1990s with reunions of many popular acts from the genre's 1980s heyday, as well as the retro styling of newer bands including The Darkness from Lowestoft, the United Kingdom, Santa Cruz from Helsinki, Finland, and Steel Panther from Los Angeles, the United States.

Characteristics, fashion, and terminology

Musically, glam metal combines a traditional heavy metal sound with elements of hard rock and punk rock,[3] adding pop-influenced catchy hooks and guitar riffs.[4][5] Like other heavy metal songs of the 1980s (most notably thrash metal songs), they often feature shred guitar solos.[6] They also include extensive use of harmonies, particularly in the characteristic power ballads - slow, emotional songs that gradually build to a strong finale.[7] These were among the most commercially successful singles in the genre and opened it up to a wider audience that would not have been attracted to traditional heavy metal. Lyrical themes often deal with love and lust, with songs often directed at a particular woman.[8]

Aesthetically glam metal draws heavily on the glam rock or glitter rock of the 1970s,[9] often with very long backcombed hair, use of make-up, gaudy clothing and accessories (chiefly consisting of tight denim or leather jeans, spandex, and headbands).[10] The visual aspects of glam metal appealed to music television producers, particularly MTV, whose establishment coincided with the rise of the genre.[11] Glam metal performers became infamous for their debauched lifestyles of drugs, strippers and late-night parties, which were widely covered in the tabloid press.[12]

Sociologist Deena Weinstein points to the large number of terms used to describe more commercial forms of heavy metal, which she groups together as lite metal. These include, beside glam metal: melodic metal, false metal, poodle bands, nerf metal, pop metal or metal pop, the last of which was coined by critic Philip Bashe in 1983 to describe bands such as Van Halen and Def Leppard.[8]AllMusic distinguishes pop metal, which refers to the whole pop-tinted hard rock and heavy metal scene of the 1980s (including Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, Europe),[4] from hair metal, the characteristics of which are flashy clothing and heavy makeup (as embodied by Poison, and Mtley Cre).[13] Use of the derogatory term hair metal started in the early 1990s, as grunge gained popularity at the expense of 1980s metal.[13] In the "definitive metal family tree" of his documentary Metal: A Headbanger's Journey, anthropologist Sam Dunn differentiates pop metal, which includes bands like Def Leppard, Europe, and Whitesnake, from glam metal bands that include Mtley Cre and Poison.[14]

History

Predecessors

The New York Dolls in 1973. Their visual style influenced the look of many 1980s-era glam metal groups.

Van Halen has been seen as highly influential on the movement, emerging in 1978 from the Los Angeles music scene on Sunset Strip, with a sound based around the lead guitar skills of Eddie Van Halen. He popularized a playing technique of two-handed hammer-ons and pull-offs called tapping, showcased on the song "Eruption" from the album Van Halen.[3] This sound, and lead singer David Lee Roth's stage antics, would be highly influential on glam metal, although Van Halen would never fully adopt a glam aesthetic.[18]Def Leppard, often categorized with the New Wave of British heavy metal, released their second album High 'n' Dry in 1981, mixing glam rock with heavy metal, and helping to define the sound of hard rock for the decade.[19]

Mainstream success (1981-1991)

First wave (1981-1985)

Quiet Riot is one of the first glam metal bands to achieve mainstream success.

In the early 1980s, bands from across the United States began to move towards what would become the glam metal sound. In 1981, Mtley Cre (from Los Angeles) released their first album Too Fast for Love, Dokken (also from Los Angeles) released their first Breaking the Chains, and Kix (from western Maryland) released their first album, Kix. In 1982, Night Ranger (from San Francisco) released their initial album Dawn Patrol which reached the top 40 in the United States.

1983 was the breakout year for glam metal: Quiet Riot's Metal Health was the first glam metal album, and arguably the first heavy metal album, to reach number one in the Billboard charts. It helped open the doors for mainstream success by subsequent metal bands.[20] Additionally, Night Ranger's second album in 1983 Midnight Madness was also a breakthrough that included the top five single "Sister Christian".[21] Also, in 1983, a larger wave of glam metal albums began appearing; Mtley Cre released its second album Shout at the Devil, Def Leppard released its third album Pyromania, 'Kix released its second album Cool Kids, Lita Ford released her initial album Out for Blood, and the band Kiss released its glam-sounding Lick It Up.

Def Leppard's Pyromania, later certified 10x platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), reached number two on the Billboard 200. The singles "Foolin'", "Photograph", and "Rock of Ages", helped by the emergence of MTV, reached the Top 40.[19][22][23]Pyromanias style was widely emulated, particularly by the emerging Californian scene.[5] However, remarked Leppard's Joe Elliott, "I don't know how anybody could confuse us with that lot. We weren't even around when all those so-called glam bands came up. We were in fuckin' Holland making Hysteria. While they were out banging chicks or whatever, we were looking at windmills and playing pool on a table without any pockets. We were as far away from LA as any band could be."[24]

All these bands played a part in developing the overall look and sound of glam metal during the early 1980s.[3] In 1985, many more commercially successful glam metal albums began to appear. Mtley Cre released Theatre of Pain, Ratt's second album Invasion of Your Privacy, Dokken's third album Under Lock and Key, Stryper's first release Soldiers Under Command, Bon Jovi's second release 7800 Fahrenheit, and Autograph's second album That's The Stuff. Los Angeles continued to foster the most important scene around the Sunset Strip, with groups like London, which had originally formed as a glam rock band in the 1970s, and had seen future members of Mtley Cre, Cinderella and Guns N' Roses pass through its ranks, finally releasing their de;but album Non Stop Rock in 1985 as well.[26]

Second wave (1986-1991)

By the mid-1980s, glam metal had begun to become a major mainstream success in America with many of these band's music videos appearing on heavy rotation on MTV often at the top of MTV's daily dial countdown, and some of the bands appeared on the channel's shows such as Headbanger's Ball, which became one of the most popular programs with over 1.3 million views a week.[11][27] The groups also received heavy rotation on radio stations such as KNAC in Los Angeles.[28]

1986 was a significant year for glam metal music as one of the most commercially significant releases of the era was put out by Bon Jovi with Slippery When Wet which mixed hard rock with a pop sensibility, and spent a total of eight weeks at the top of the Billboard 200 album chart, selling over 12 million copies in the United States. It became the first hard rock album to spawn three top ten singles, two of which reached number one.[29] The album has been credited with widening the audience for the genre, particularly by appealing to women as well as the traditional male dominated audience, and opening the door to MTV and commercial success for other bands at the end of the decade.[30]

Decline (1992-1996)

The 1988 film The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years captured the Los Angeles scene of successful and aspiring bands. It also highlighted the excesses of glam metal, particularly the scene in which W.A.S.P. guitarist Chris Holmes was interviewed while drinking vodka on a floating chair in a swimming pool as his mother watched. As a result, it has been seen as helping to create a backlash against the genre.[51][52] In the early 1990s glam metal's popularity rapidly declined after nearly a decade of success. Successful bands lost members that were key to their songwriting and/or live performances, such as Mtley Crue's frontman Vince Neil, Poison guitarist C.C. DeVille, Def Leppard guitarist Steve Clark and Guns N' Roses guitarist Izzy Stradlin. Several music writers and musicians began to deride glam metal acts as "hair farmers,"[53][54] hinting at the soon-to-be-popularized term "hair metal". Another reason for the decline in popularity of the style may have been the declining popularity of the power ballad. While its use, especially after a hard-rocking anthem, was initially a successful formula, in the late 1980s and early 1990s audiences lost interest in this approach.[7][55]

One significant factor in the decline was the rise of grunge music from Seattle, with bands including Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden. This was particularly obvious after the success of Nirvana's Nevermind (1991), which combined elements of hardcore punk and heavy metal into a dirty sound that made use of heavy guitar distortion, fuzz and feedback, along with darker lyrical themes, a stripped-down aesthetic and a complete rejection of the glam metal visual style and performance.[13][56] Many major labels felt they had been caught off-guard by the surprise success of grunge and began turning over their personnel in favor of younger staffers more versed in the new scene. As MTV shifted its attention to the new style, glam metal bands found themselves relegated increasingly to late night airplay, and Headbanger's Ball was cancelled at the end of 1994,[27] while KNAC went over to Spanish programming.[28] Given glam metal's lack of a major format presence on radio, bands were left without a clear way to reach their audience. Other (earlier Hollywood) alternative rock bands like the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Jane's Addiction also helped supplant the popularity of the genre.[57]

Some artists tried to alter their sound, while others struggled on with their original format.[13] In 1995, Van Halen released Balance, a multi-platinum seller that would be the band's last with Sammy Hagar on vocals. In 1996, David Lee Roth returned briefly and his replacement, former Extreme singer Gary Cherone, left the band soon after the release of the commercially unsuccessful 1998 album Van Halen III. Van Halen would not tour or record again until 2004.[18]Warrant released Ultraphobic in 1995, an album with more of an alternative/grunge approach, which had little commercial success.

Meanwhile, Guns N' Roses' classic-lineup was whittled away throughout the decade. Drummer Steven Adler was fired in 1990, guitarist Izzy Stradlin left in late 1991 after recording Use Your Illusion I and II with the band. Tensions between the other band members and lead singer Axl Rose continued after the release of the 1993 punk rock covers album "The Spaghetti Incident?". Guitarist Slash left in 1996, followed by bassist Duff McKagan in 1998. Axl Rose, the only remaining original member at that point, worked with a constantly changing lineup in recording Chinese Democracy- an album that would take over ten years to complete[37] and see the band incorporate electronic rock, industrial rock and nu metal styles.

Revivals and nostalgia festivals (1997-present)

During both the late 1990s and the 2000s, glam metal began to have something of a revival. Some established acts who had managed to weather the storm enjoyed renewed popularity, others reformed and new bands emerged to emulate the glam metal style. Bon Jovi were still able to achieve a commercial hit with "It's My Life" (2000).[40] They branched into country music with a version of their 2005 song "Who Says You Can't Go Home", which reached number one on the Hot Country Singles chart in 2006 and the rock/country album Lost Highway which reached number one in 2007. In 2009, Bon Jovi released The Circle, which marked a return to their hard rock sound and reached number one on the Billboard 200.[40] Mtley Cre reunited with Vince Neil to record the 1997 album Generation Swine[44] and Poison reunited with guitarist C.C. DeVille in 1999, producing the mostly live Power to the People (2000);[33] both bands began to tour extensively. There were reunions and subsequent tours from Van Halen (with Hagar in 2004 and then Roth in 2007).[18] The long-awaited Guns N' Roses album Chinese Democracy was finally released in 2008, but only went platinum in the US, produced no hit singles, and failed to come close to the success of the band's late 1980s and early 1990s material.[58] Europe's "Final Countdown" enjoyed a new lease of popularity as the millennium drew to a close and the band reformed.[59] Other acts to reform included Ratt,[60] Britny Fox,[61] Stryper (annually),[32] and Skid Row.[48]

Beginning in 1999, Monster Ballads, a series of compilation albums that feature popular power ballads, usually from the glam metal genre, capitalized on the nostalgia, with the first volume going platinum.[62] The VH1 sponsored Rock Never Stops Tour, beginning in 1998, has seen many glam metal bands take to the stage again, including on the inaugural tour: Warrant, Slaughter, Quiet Riot, FireHouse, and L.A. Guns. Slaughter also took part in the 1999 version with Ted Nugent, Night Ranger, and Quiet Riot.[63] Poison and Cinderella toured together in 2000 and 2002, and in 2005 Cinderella headlined the Rock Never Stops Tour, with support from Ratt, Quiet Riot, and FireHouse.[34] In 2007 the four-day-long Rocklahoma festival held in Oklahoma included glam metal bands Poison, Ratt and Twisted Sister.[64] Warrant and Cinderella co-headlined the festival in 2008.[65] Nostalgia for the genre was evidenced in the production of the glam metal themed musical Rock of Ages, which ran in Los Angeles in 2006[66] and in New York in 2008.[67] It was made into a film released in 2012.[68]

Glam metal band Black Veil Brides filming a music video for their song Rebel Love Song

Glam metal experienced a partial resurgence around the turn of the century, due in part to increased interest on the Internet, with the successful 'Glam Slam Metal Jam' music festival taking place in the summer of 2000.[69] By the early 2000s, a handful of new bands began to revive glam metal in one form or another. The Darkness's Permission to Land (2003), described as an "eerily realistic simulation of '80s metal and '70s glam",[70] topped the UK charts, going quintuple platinum. One Way Ticket to Hell... and Back (2005) reached number 11. The band broke up in 2006, but reunited in 2011, releasing the album Hot Cakes the following year. Los Angeles band Steel Panther managed to gain a following by playing 1980s style glam metal.[71] In Sweden the sleaze metal movement attempted to revive the genre, with bands including Vains of Jenna,[72]Crashdet[73] and H.E.A.T[74] Other new acts included Beautiful Creatures[75] and Buckcherry. The latter's breakthrough album 15 (2006) went platinum in the U.S. and spawned the single "Sorry" (2007), which made the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100.[76] In France, the band BlackRain also managed to get some coverage, thanks to their work with legendary producer Jack Douglas.[77] Bands known for their metalcore background such as Black Veil Brides[78] and Blessed by a Broken Heart[79] have changed their style to be glam metal inspired, both musically and visually, with Black Veil Brides adding a gothic spin to the traditional glam image.[80]